New
#1
Broken Wi-Fi?
OK, well... this problem has been going on ever since I got Windows 7.
I know my broken hard drive isn't helping, but even before it started acting up I had this issue.
My Wi-Fi card is a Ralink 2860 internal one. Windows 7, unlike Vista, actually comes with the drivers for it - as when I set it up at home it automatically found my LAN and asked for the WEP key. (I can't do that here as you need to login first, which will inherently make Windows setup say the connection failed).
Well, that's all well and good, until I turn Wi-Fi off. My laptop has a button for it that is the equivalent of plugging in and unplugging the Wi-Fi adapter. When I'm in my dorm room I use the wired Ethernet as it's 10x faster, and I turn off the Wi-Fi to not cause interference. Well, the next time I turn ON the Wi-Fi (and I do it right after pressing power, too), Windows says there's no wireless networks, period. It just refuses to see anything. I've restarted the WLAN config, nothing.
The fix I found was to install Ralink's driver package. That works fine, until I turn it off and on again. Then I have to REMOVE those drivers, etc etc.
Like, Windows just doesn't like non-permanent Wi-Fi cards.
And more recently, it'll connect and then disconnect 30 seconds later, and I have to install and uninstall drivers for 5 minutes to re-connect it for 30 seconds, etc.
Anybody have any ideas? It worked fine in Vista, it's just Windows 7 that isn't liking this thing.